By SARAH GARLAND

The New York Times
July 18, 2006 Tuesday
Late Edition - Final
From Bowery to the Side Streets, to Where?
BYLINE: By SARAH GARLAND
SECTION: Section B; Column 3; Metropolitan Desk; INK; Pg. 2

MICHAEL AZEEZ, who describes himself as the only American Indian street food vendor in New York, opens for business on the Bowery as dusk nears.
His braids swing as he chops and stirs and turns to chat with customers. Blue silk flowers and fluffy white foxtails hang from his cart, fluttering around him in the breeze. Red and green peppers, carrots and other vegetables are arrayed in a rainbow pattern. ”American Indians, we like to do things in a fanciful manner,” he explains.
Mr. Azeez, 45, who lives in Westchester County, is having a rough year. First, he said, city health code regulations shot down his dream of selling wild game and other traditional Mohawk dishes in the street. Then, a building owner forced him to move from his high-traffic spot on the Bowery, next to CBGB, to a less-traveled side street nearby. The final blow: CBGB, the storied punk rock club, is closing for good in October, after a long battle with its landlord.
But the tears Mr. Azeez frequently sheds are not from the bad news, but from the spices he sprinkles over his kebabs.
”Why should I be upset?” he says.
”It’s about destiny,” he says. ”Whatever happens, we’re not in control.”
For now, he is staying afloat. ”The way I put things out, it makes people stop,” he says. He operates the cart, named From Atlantis With Love, from 7 p.m. to 4 a.m. Usually, one of his volunteer assistants helps out. The ”consultants,” as one called himself, live in a nearby homeless shelter and are drawn by free kebabs and Mr. Azeez’s cheerful company.
Mr. Azeez says he charges on a sliding scale, from as much as $5 a kebab to as little as nothing for customers he thinks need the money more than he does. He says he makes $500 a week on average.
Asked if he is worried about what will happen when the club closes, he frets for a while and says, ”I’m like a species on the brink of extinction.” Then he grins, and says, ”Or I’ll just move.”